The public launch event for a movement should be filled with positivity and purpose, inviting people to see the value of the ideas behind it. The promotional material for the Birmingham launch of the Anti-Zionist Movement (AZM) on February 8, 2026 had a bright modern appearance. Entry would be free for those who booked early enough through the online platform Eventbrite, although donations were, of course welcomed. The Instagram promotional post was slick, with a soundtrack by the artist Lowkey, featuring Mai Khalil.
I decided to attend and bought a ticket to the event. As a known Zionist to some individuals associated with AZM, I did so in my own name. No one could accuse me of “Zio” subterfuge. I even posted on X that I was coming, intent on sitting in the back and listening, tagging the speakers for transparency.
I wasn’t comfortable going. After all, the description for AZM on its Instagram page shows a clenched fist emoji next to the words “Upholding the Thawabet” and a Palestinian flag followed by the slogan “Liberation via (globe emoji) Zio eradication”. The Thawabet, a term coined by the Palestinian National Council, sets out what it describes as the Palestinian right to resistance, self-determination (statehood) in all of the land of the British Mandate of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of return. The Thawabet principles, according to one of the speakers at the launch event, are “non-negotiables”. In the view of the AZM, Palestinian liberation was to be achieved by global “Zio” eradication. And I have been called a “Zio” numerous times.
And yet, I wanted to assess it first-hand.
The launch stumbled before it had properly begun. The original venue cancelled the booking following complaints. On February 5, AZM posted on X: “Catch us if you can. Venue will ONLY be announced to ticket holders on the day.” A new location was later listed on Eventbrite; however, the venue publicly stated that it had been contacted by police and that the event was “categorically not happening at our address”. Around the same time, Eventbrite showed the event as having ended.
I then received an email informing me that my ticket had been cancelled “on the grounds of security and the integrity of our event space”. Apparently, my mere attendance was deemed a risk.
I went to the original location and discovered that the launch was in fact taking place in a function room above a nearby restaurant. Outside, I met a journalist, an academic and a Muslim man who urged the community to adopt a more balanced position on Israel. For a brief moment, we were an unlikely coalition of calm observers – ticket-holders, yet barred from entry.
Then came the arrests. One of the speakers, a journalist for the Iranian regime’s PressTV, who had celebrated October 7 as a moment of “triumph” and “resistance” on social media, was arrested en route to the venue in connection with historical allegations. Some of the attendees were reportedly also arrested, and one was charged with inciting racial hatred. One man was arrested in relation to a public order offence allegedly committed immediately outside the venue.
Akhmed Yakoob was also in attendance: a lawyer with the catchphrase “For every offence, there is a defence”, and a man awaiting trial for money laundering. Yakoob helped stir up antizionist sentiments in Birmingham during the run-up to the Aston Villa vs Maccabi Tel Aviv game. Police physically restrained one person from effectively filming Yakoob’s arrival, a use of force that appeared to lack clear justification.
The West Midlands Police (WMP) under new leadership, did not appear to be taking a robust approach to extremism and sectarianism. The officers present were not there to prevent an event planned by an organisation which promoted the use of armed resistance, a core principle of the Thawabet, with the aim of achieving “(global) zio eradication”. After all, this was the WMP, whose leaders had been caught lying to Parliament in order to justify the use of false evidence for the purpose of banning Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from Aston Villa.
In the aftermath of the event, AZM speakers were true to form. Although presenting themselves as an advocacy group, they do not appear to support advocacy rights for others, nor do they believe that their actions should have consequences. Dr Rahmeh Aladwan wrote on X that the difficulties they had faced showed “Britain is not merely influenced. It is a captured state.” She added “We will liberate Britain from the hostile zionist jewish (sic) lobby”. David Miller claimed that it was “More evidence of the police working directly for the Zionist regime”. The movement’s X account declared “The British police are taking instruction from the zionist (sic) lobby, arresting citizens who speak against Jewish supremacy”.
Having failed to attend the Birmingham launch of the AZM, it is reasonable to say that the movement does not possess a positive message or vision that it wishes to share. It is not open to scrutiny; being held to account is something which should only be reserved for Zionists. As the first word of the movement’s title declares, it doesn’t exist to promote something; it exists merely in opposition to something.
It is “anti” Zionism, an evolved form of Jew-hatred. Not the theological flavour of the Middle Ages in Europe, or the racial hatred of Nazi antisemitism. It is more ideological in nature. With all the tools available to a democracy, it needs to be resisted.
And at the moment, we are not rising to the challenge.
Gill Levy is a former Metropolitan Police officer
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